EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

MODULE 06

CASE STUDY
ON
SURESH : THE EXPERIENCED SUPERVISOR

Course:
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

INSTITUTE OF PERSONAL MANAGEMENT SRI LANKA (INC.)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................
Problem Statement ......................................................................................................................................
Objective ....................................................................................................................................................
Question A...................................................................................................................................................
Question B...................................................................................................................................................
Question C.................................................................................................................................................
Question D.................................................................................................................................................
Bibliography..............................................................................................................................................

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Executive Summary

This Case Study is about a leading Regions Manufacturing which is a multi-national company
that produces quality computer spare parts. The Company has been in existence for the past 30
years. Regions have been a well-known company on its reputation for holding on to its
employees, which prevailed a high sense of job security.
Regions Manufacturing Limited is in the challenge of overcoming the downturn in the industry
which resulted in high production costs and goods were no longer competitive in the global
market. A sustainability analysis had revealed that employee productivity is a key area
highlighted for requiring major changes.
Mr.Suresh Gunaweera is a Senior Supervisor in charge of the production output of machine
number 1. Suresh had been working in this company for a period of 10 years.Sureshs
relationship with the team working with machine number 01 is not that healthy. Suresh being a
disciplined person expects the same level of discipline and commitment from others.
It was highlighted by two employees Nimal and Kamal had raised the issue that the reason for the
low output of the team and the low quality are due to issues relating to the poor raw material and
high machine downtime as the engineering staff is inefficient.
Mr. Ruwan Balawardane is the HR Manager of the Regions Manufacturing Limited.
All key issues related to Employee Relations in Regions Manufacturing is discussed in detail and
elaborated in This Case.
The case concludes with recommendations and suggestions as to how Mr.Suresh could make the
relationship of his team healthy and productful.

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Problem Statement
As you can read in the Case we could see that the estimated production output of machine
number 1 is 150 units per day, which can be produced by 15 employees and the tolerance for
rejects is less than 2%. The current output is 100 unites per day which is produced by utilizing 25
employees. The reject levels are at 6%.
The company was in a need of increasing the employee productivity in order to stand head high
despite the downturn in the industry.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

The company had a bad employee relationship issue.

Mr. Suresh despite his work experience was not in a fit enough for a Senior Supervisor.
The company had no stress Management process.
The company did not have a proper disciplinary procedure.
There was no systematic Time & Motion study.
The Company did not have a proper communication plan.
Employee performance was not defined and measured by the Company properly. Proper
KPIs have not been identified and defined to the employees.

Objectives of the Study

The Major objective of this study on Regions Manufacturing Limited is:
1. How to improve the performance of Sureshs Team and thereby ensure performance
targets of machine number 1 is achieved.
2. Define Counseling techniques that could be applied.
3. Address the staffing issue of machine number 1.

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Question A. How would you assist Suresh to improve the performance of his team &
thereby ensure performance targets of machine number 1 are achieved?

It is well noticed in the case study that even though Suresh has been an experienced Supervisor he
has gained his experience in performing and not in the importance of having or building up the
relationship between the team members. Suresh should be given details about the importance of
having a healthy relationship with the Team members.
Suresh should be made aware of the issues which may arise in not having a healthy relationship
with its Team members. The issues could be as follows:
Team members become unsure of what they have been asked to do by the Line
Manager/Supervisor. This results up to 40 minutes of wasted time per day which is
equivalent of 83 employees in a company with 1,000 employees doing nothing every
day.
An improper communication could have serious business implications like low staff
morale, confusion among employees and loss of business as well in the long term.
We can see low standards of employee relationships and miscommunications impacts on
employee retention, morale and the bottom line of the Company. In the Sureshs context now it is
high time to address this issue by the Top Management itself.
People performance management is one of the key mechanisms for implementing business
strategy. Line managers are crucial in implementing sound people management activities, and are
in the frontline when it comes to safeguarding peoples performance in organizations.
Another challenge which could be seen in implementing good management practices for Line
Managers / Supervisors is that they think that they are only responsible creating value to the
Company and that people management is the responsibility of the HR. There is a barrier between
the role of the HR and Supervisor. We could see that in the case in the situation where the two
team members of Sureshs team address the HR Manager instead of addressing their Line
Manager directly. We could see that Mr.Ruwan, HR Manager has requested them to discuss with
Suresh about these issues and had not taken any further action. Therefore the best solution for this
is to make sure HR manager dealing with line managers can handle these relationships in a
positive and supportive manner. Make sure your people learn quickly that the right people will
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achieve the right results and aligning employees with company strategy is their primary
responsibility.
Sometimes, systems such as pay and reward schemes impede successful people management, and
subsequently affect staff retention, employee productivity and profitability. A line managers role
should be structured so that reward mechanisms work in harmony with long-term people
performance responsibilities.
Another shortfall which could be highlighted in this case study is that the role of the Line
Manager / Supervisor has not been defined properly by the Company. If it had been so then
Suresh would not have to face so many mismanagement issues. The Company need to have an
updated and well-defined line manager model if they are to implement strategy effectively. Such
a model will help the Company get the best out of line managers, as well as helping line
managers get the best out of their teams. And with this in place the Company is in position to
select, deploy and develop the right manager who can implement the Company business strategy.
The Company itself should take the initiation of helping Suresh to overcome his problems within
the Team and make him improve his performance along the with the performance rate of his
Team members. The company could implement the below mentioned strategies in order to help
Suresh to improve the performance of his Team and thereby ensure performance targets of
Machine Number 1 are achieved.
Region Manufacturing should create business measurement methods that enable to get
data on the effectiveness of Suresh and his impact on results. This way the company can
learn over time how to improve his capability.
Define what good looks like for Suresh and be clear about what the company expect.
Also the company needs to make sure that things are realistically scaled and properly
focused.
The company should make sure that they focus on the people motivation, engagement
and communication capability of Suresh.
The company should make sure that Suresh becomes a role model when it comes to
people management and performance.
The company should upgrade Suresh capability by a continual and restless system
rather than an occasional priority.
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 The company should use every lever to improve people management capability:
predictive assessment of capability and potential; development solutions that accelerate
time to competence; employer branding to attract the best; insightful deployment to place
people where they create most value.
They should review all HR practices and policies to make sure they are valuable,
properly measured and streamlined around optimizing managers impact.
The company should make sure that the HR team realizes it exists to enable line
managers to implement strategy effectively and focus it on the right priorities.
The Top Management should listen to the line managers and ensure they can provide
feedback regularly on both strategy and people management practices.
The company should encourage and make Suresh realize that people management
capability is the number one priority as a leader.
In the event of where Nimal & Kamal involves it is the best to give them a Job rotation
maintaining the Bona Fide among the employees. We could see that out of Sureshs other team
members these 02 employees seems to be not having a healthy relationship with their Line
Manager. Also Nimal seems to be bored with his current job responsibilities that could be the
reason as to why Suresh came across Nimal sleeping while on duty. Therefore the ideal solution
is Job Rotation. We could also suggest the HR Manager to have a casual discussion with Suresh
and forward him for counseling. This could be very vital since Suresh seems to be under high
pressure.
Another training which could be organized by the company in Sureshs favour is training on
Negotiations Skills. We see that Suresh has poor negotiation skills. There are 03 different types of
Negotitaions in organizations.
1. Day to day / managerial
2. Commercial Negottitation
3. Legal Negotiation
Day-to-day negotiation is very important for Suresh. It helps resolve internal problems and help
build the relationship between the team. The best way that Suresh could improve his negotiation

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skills is by exposing himself to situations that require negotiating. Also he could attend to some
workshops on improving Negotiation skills.

Question B. What are the situations in which counseling techniques can be applied
effectively?

There are many reasons why employees may perform poorly. Several scholars, theories and
authors have highlighted reasons for employees underperformance. In his book, "The Human
Side of Enterprise", Douglass McGregor (1960) formulated the theory explaining why employees
underperform. According to McGregors (1960) theory X:
The average human being is inherently lazy by nature and desires to work as little as possible. He
dislikes the work and will like to avoid it, if he can.
He avoids accepting responsibility and prefers to be led or directed by some other.
He is self-centered and indifferent to organizational needs.
He has little ambition, dislikes responsibility, prefers to be led but wants security.
He is not very intelligent and lacks creativity in solving organizational problems.
He by nature is resistant to change of any type.
Some of the common reasons for poor performance could be as follows:
an employee doesn't know what is expected because goals and/or standards or workplace
policies and consequences are not clear (or have not been set)
interpersonal differences
there is a mismatch between an employee's capabilities and the job they are required to
undertake, or the employee does not have the knowledge or skills to do the job expected
of them
an employee does not know whether they are doing a good job because there is no
counselling or feedback on their performance
lack of personal motivation, low morale in the workplace and/or poor work environment
personal issues such as family stress, physical and/or mental health problems or problems
with drugs or alcohol
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 cultural misunderstandings
workplace bullying
According to the Case study we could see that the Suresh and Nimal both should be forwarded to
counseling. Both employees have the reasons highlighted by McGregor in different proportions.
We could also see that Suresh was once dishearten by workplace bullying and that resulted in the
argument he had with Nimal which also inversely resulted in suspension of work for Suresh for
01 week.
Counseling is the act of assisting an employee to have a positive perception about things.
Counseling can enable an employee to develop positive feelings, experiences and behaviours that
would facilitate positive change. Counseling services are offered to the person that is undergoing
a problem and deserves professional assistance to enable him overcome such problem.
Counseling therefore is a specialized service carried out by professionals or trained personnel in
personality development and in the act of handling exceptional individuals or groups. Counseling
is a process involving two individuals, one seeking assistance and the other a professionally
trained person helped solved problems to orient and direct him towards a goal, which leads to his
maximum development and growth. Counseling services are therefore required for individuals
having developmental problems because of the handicap they suffer in any area of emotional
either because of hereditary factors or environment conditions. Historically the term counseling
was associated with serious personal problems such as alcohol dependency and marital
breakdown. When an employee's performance or that of the work group is affected by personal
problems, the employer, supervisor or manager must intervene. In this case we could see that
Suresh did not personally have the capacity of involving himself in improving the productivity of
his team. Therefore he should be sent for professional employee counseling as it is been worded
by the modern management.
When an organization pays less attention to the welfare of employees, the organization is bound
to suffer reduced productivity. This is because many employees are often affected by personal
problems, which result in decreased job performance. Counseling is one of the instruments that
can help improve work performance in any organization. There are different kinds of counseling
in organizations.
Performance counseling is designed to help non performing workers identify the causes of workrelated problems that result in poor performance. The employer or manager should not personally
try to identify and solve the causes of personal problems such as depression, alcoholism or
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marital problems for an employee. We could see that sometimes Nimal sleeping during work
hours could be a result of some problem as depression, alcoholism or marital problems. Suresh
was not aware enough to identify that instead of direct approach counseling could have helped
Nimal to overcome his situation. Suresh could have at least taken a step in forwarding Nimal to
an expert in performance counseling. The confidential counseling service is designed to help
employees deal with personal problems, some of which may be affecting performance at work.
Counseling may be offered internally by a professional counselor or externally. However this
requires the manager to diagnose the employee's problems, something they are neither qualified
nor entitled to do. Counseling and psychological support for employees is the basis of any
organization. Modalities of counseling services include telephone counseling, face-to-face
counseling, psychological debriefing, group support and legal and debt advice. The key element
is to support staff through any difficulties that impact on their working lives. Performance
counseling is an indispensable part of job supervision in any organization if employees must be
efficient in their performance. In todays context we could see that many organizations, specially
garment factories have their own internal Counselor.

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Question C. How would you deal with the incident between Nimal & Suresh?
The incident which happened between Suresh and Nimal has not being addressed properly by the
management. The puncishment was only imposed on one party. The main reason for this is that
the Company did not have a proper Disciplinary procedure. Discipline is very important for a
company. It is up to the company to define what type of conduct it regards as misconduct, and to
communicate this clearly to all employees. This should be done through company policies and
management briefings.
Similarly, an employer should make it clear in its policies and rules what types of behaviour will
be regarded as 'gross misconduct', entitling the employer to dismiss without notice.
There is no legal definition of misconduct, and no legal list of the types of behaviour that may be
regarded as misconduct. Much will depend on the type of business operated by the employer and
a range of circumstances such as the kind of work performed, safety issues, the importance of
reliable attendance and timekeeping, and the risks that the employer would face in the event of
misuse of company equipment such as computers.
Line managers should always act promptly to deal with any misconduct on the part of their
employees. A failure to communicate to an employee that something that he or she has done is
unacceptable may lead the employee to assume that his or her conduct is satisfactory. As the Line
Manager Suresh was not capable of acting promptly with the misconduct performed by Nimal.
Disciplinary rules are useful because they set standards and make it clear to employees what
conduct is and is not acceptable.
Rules may cover a range of issues such as:
health and safety;
timekeeping;
bullying and harassment;
personal use of office equipment, materials and stationery;
obeying reasonable instructions;
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 claiming expenses;
care in handling company property;
removal of company property from the premises; and
use of e-mail and the internet.
In the event of the incident which took place between Suresh and Nimal we could see that the
following disciplinary as out of the list mentioned above was violated by both parties.
By Suresh;
bullying and harassment; - in the event where he assaulted Nimal by slapping on his face
and accused Nimal of sabotaging the production in the presence of all employees.
By Nimal;
bullying and harassment; - in the event where Nimal proceeded to abuse Suresh by
hooting and jeering.
obeying reasonable instructions; - in the event where Nimal refused to follow the
instructions given by Suresh.
But we could see that only Suresh was given a punishment by the Management whereas the
offence by Nimal despite the fact that it was minor or major was disregarded by the Management.
This was because the organization itself did not have a proper Disciplinary Procedure. Had they
have had one then both Nimal and Suresh would have been treated equally or in a balanced
manner in the cause of the incident which took place between them.
Disciplinary procedures permit managers to deal fairly and consistently with employees who
breach the rules.
Although there is no legally required structure for a disciplinary procedure, most employers
operate a procedure with three or four stages prior to dismissal, for example:
Stage 1: Preliminary Investigation
Stage 2: Show Cause / Charge Sheet
Stage 3: Receipt of explanation
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Stage 4: Domestic Inquiry

Stage 5: Findings of the Inquiry
Stage 6: Punishments
Stage 7: Subsequent actions after termination
Labor Tribunal
Appeal against the decision of the L.T.
Source: Page 31 of handout on Employee Relations
The steps of the Disciplinary Procedure could further be illustrated as follows:
Suspension
from Service

Preliminary
Investigation

Show Cause /
Charge Sheet

Receiving explanation with

pleading not guilty

Receiving explanation with

accepting guilty

Not accepting
the explanation

Accepting the
explanation

Proper inquiry

End of Disciplinary
Procedure

Inquiry Report
Management
Decision
Management
Decision
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The above hierarchy is an example and not a legal requirement. It is also possible to institute a
procedure in which only two formal warnings precede dismissal.
Before any warning is issued, the employee concerned should be given a chance to state his or
her case at a properly convened disciplinary interview. The manager should fully consider any
explanations or mitigating factors put forward by the employee prior to deciding whether it is
appropriate to issue a warning and, if so, what level warning is appropriate in the circumstances.
It is important that managers act fairly and objectively when deciding what type of warning to
impose and take care not to overreact or take a decision in the heat of the moment.
Therefore my suggestion in dealing with the incident which took place between Suresh and
Nimal is that the company should first act accordingly with the Disciplinary procedure. This will
not even lead to any involvement of the Union because most companies with Unions have
Disciplinary procedures formed accordingly with the clauses agreed in the Collective
Agreements.
We could see that Suresh returned to work in utter disappointment since he was penalized by the
incident. This resulted in a drawback in his performance as well. This subsequently led to the
position where Suresh had to leave the company despite his service of 10 years.
This would have not being the final outcome if the management had addressed the incident in the
proper manner in accordance with its Disciplinary Procedure.
This was a result due to a major drawback of the HR Manager of the Region Manufacturing
Limited.

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Question D. How would you address the staffing issues for machine number 1?
According to the case study the following points could be highlighted as important condition to
be considered in staffing employees.
Work study
Performance Appraisal
Work Study is a collection of techniques required to perform the organized analysis of all the
factors that affect the efficiency and effectiveness of methods being used. The main objectives of
work study are to improve the productivity and quality of a product economically. Work study
was known as time and motion study previously.
The two techniques involved in a work study are method study and work measurement. Method
study is the process of determining the most effective method of performing a job, logical layout
of manufacturing facilities, smooth movement of workmen and materials in the plant and the
right placement of inspection to ensure that processing of job is on time and at an economical
cost. In similar way, work measurement is the process of determining the time required by the
workmen to complete a specific work at a specified time.
Objectives of work study
1. To analyse the present method of doing a job, systematically in order to develop a new and
better method.
2. To measure the work content of a job by measuring the time required to do the job for a
qualified worker and hence to establish standard time.
3. To increase the productivity by ensuring the best possible use of human, machine and material
resources and to achieve best quality product/service at minimum possible cost.
4. To improve operational efficiently.

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Benefits of work study

Increased productivity and operational efficiency.
Reduced manufacturing cost.
Improved work place layout.
Better manpower planning and capacity planning.
Fair wages to employees.
Better working conditions to employees.
Improved work flow.
Reduced material handling costs.
Better industrial relations and employee morale.
Basis for sound incentive schemes.
Provide job satisfaction to employees.
Work methods analysis or method study is a scientific technique of observing, recording and
critically examining the present method of performing a task or job or operation with the aim of
improving the present method and developing a new and cheaper method. It is also known as
methods improvement or work improvement. It encompasses the study of work processes,
working conditions and equipments and tools used to carry out they job. Method study may be
understood as the systematic recording and critical examination of existing and proposed way of
doing work, as a means of developing and applying easier and more effective methods and
producing costs.

Objectives of method study

1. To improve the processes and procedures involved in the production.
2. To identify the proper sequence of production operations.
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3. To reduce the idle time of the operator to optimize the utilization of human resources.
4. To choose right tools to enhance the tool life and therefore reduce the tool cost per unit of
production.
5. To arrange regular examination in production stages to reduce defects in them and maximize
quality assurance costs.
6. To standardize work methods or process, working conditions, machinery, equipments and tools.
7. To allocate human effort economically and to avoid additional expenses.
8. Higher standard of safety, security and health.
9. To improve the working environment.

Steps, procedure, process or mechanism of method study;

Method study is a systematic approach to determine the most appropriate method for
manufacturing a product. Following are the basic procedures involved in method study;
Selection of jobs
Recording of facts
Critical examination
Development and selection
Installation
Maintenance

Performance Appraisal is the systematic evaluation of the performance of employees and to

understand the abilities of a person for further growth and development. Performance appraisal is
generally done in systematic ways which are as follows:

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The supervisors measure the pay of employees and compare it with targets and plans.

The supervisor analyses the factors behind work performances of employees.

The employers are in position to guide the employees for a better performance.

Objectives of Performance Appraisal

Performance Appraisal can be done with following objectives in mind:
To maintain records in order to determine compensation packages, wage structure,
salaries raises, etc.
To identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees to place right men on right job.
To maintain and assess the potential present in a person for further growth and
development.
To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status.
To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status.
It serves as a basis for influencing working habits of the employees.
To review and retain the promotional and other training programmes.
Advantages of Performance Appraisal
It is said that performance appraisal is an investment for the company which can be justified by
following advantages:
Promotion: Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to chalk out the promotion programmes
for efficient employees. In this regards, inefficient workers can be dismissed or demoted in case.
Compensation: Performance Appraisal helps in chalking out compensation packages for
employees. Merit rating is possible through performance appraisal. Performance Appraisal tries to
give worth to a performance. Compensation packages which includes bonus, high salary rates,
extra benefits, allowances and pre-requisites are dependent on performance appraisal. The criteria
should be merit rather than seniority.

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Employees Development: The systematic procedure of performance appraisal helps the

supervisors to frame training policies and programmes. It helps to analyse strengths and
weaknesses of employees so that new jobs can be designed for efficient employees. It also helps
in framing future development programmes.
Selection Validation: Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to understand the validity and
importance of the selection procedure. The supervisors come to know the validity and thereby the
strengths and weaknesses of selection procedure. Future changes in selection methods can be
made in this regard.
Communication: For an organization, effective communication between employees and
employers is very important. Through performance appraisal, communication can be sought for in
the following ways:
Through performance appraisal, the employers can understand and accept skills of
subordinates.
The subordinates can also understand and create a trust and confidence in superiors.
It also helps in maintaining cordial and congenial labour management relationship.
It develops the spirit of work and boosts the morale of employees.
All the above factors ensure effective communication.
Motivation: Performance appraisal serves as a motivation tool. Through evaluating performance
of employees, a persons efficiency can be determined if the targets are achieved. This very well
motivates a person for better job and helps him to improve his performance in the future.

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Bibliography
http://www.thecounsellorsguide.co.uk/counselling-workplace.html
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/responsibilities-line-managers-hr-35205.html
https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/management8/functions-of-managers-60/staffing-roles-288-10121/

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